The Mongol bow is a type of recurved composite bow historically used in Mongolia, and by the horse archers of the Mongol Empire. "Mongol bow" can refer to two types of bow. From the 17th century onward, most of the traditional bows in Mongolia were replaced with the similar Manchu bow which is primarily distinguished by larger siyahs and the presence of prominent string bridges.
The bows that were used during the rule of Genghis Khan were smaller than the modern Manchu-derived weapons used at most Naadam. Paintings as well as at least one surviving example of a 13th-century Mongol bow from Tsagaan-Khad demonstrate that the medieval Mongolian bows had smaller siyahs and much less prominent leather string bridges.
Mongol bows were the main weapons of the Mongol warriors in this period. Warriors carried at least 2 bows, a long one for long-range work and a shorter one for mounted combat. [1]
From the 17th to the 20th century, horseback archery in Mongolia (and around the world) declined in prominence in proportion to the availability of firearms. Contemporary depictions of the 1768 Battle of Khorgos between the Qing dynasty and the Western Mongolian Dzungars show the mounted Dzungars primarily armed with muskets.
The old Mongolian bows that were used during the times of Genghis Khan were smaller than the modern weapons used at most Naadam festivals today.
Mongols performing archery may be continuous, but Mongol bows are not. Mongol style bows were officially outlawed [2] in Mongolia after it was conquered by the Manchu dynasty. [3] Manchu soldiers entered gers and broke any Mongol bows that they found, and the Qing forced Mongols to use the Manchu bow in their archery. Over two hundred years of enforcement these changes stuck and the ancient art of Mongol bow making was nearly lost along with a majority of archery games and traditions. Modern Mongolian bows are derived from the Chinese / Manchu tradition; they are larger and have string bridges. Archery came back to Naadam and was organized for the first time in many years by the newly founded Mongolian National Archery Association (1940). This was the beginning of the sports standardization in the modern era.
Ancient and modern Mongol bows are part of the Asian composite bow tradition. The core is bamboo, with horn on the belly (facing towards the archer) and sinew on the back, bound together with animal glue. [4] [1] As animal glue is dissolved by water, composite bows may be ruined by rain or excess humidity; a wrapper of (waterproof) birch bark may give limited protection from moisture and from mechanical damage. The bow is usually stored in a leather case for protection when not in use.
Birch is a typical material for arrows. The normal length of an arrow is between 80 and 100 cm (30 and 40 inches), and the shaft's diameter is around 1 cm (0.5 inches).
As for fletchings, crane tail feathers are favored, but tail feathers of all birds are usable. Eagle feathers make a particularly prized arrow, but eagle feathers are relatively difficult to acquire. Feathers taken from wings are said to flow less smoothly through the air, so if given the choice, tail feathers are picked. The Mongols characteristically pay close attention to the minutest details; the placement of the fletchings in relation to their size, and what part of the bird the feathers originate from, are of great importance for correct rotation and good balance in the air. Consequently, these factors are painstakingly considered when making arrows after the Old Mongol standard.
Arrowheads can be everything from wide metal blades used for big game (or in war) to bone and wooden points, which are used for hunting birds and small animals. The high impact force of this bow ensures that a bony point will be lethal when hitting the body of a smaller animal. In addition to these kinds of arrows, whistling arrows are useful during hunting, because the effect on animals of an arrow whistling away high above the ground is often to make it stop, curious to see what is in the air. This gives the hunter time to launch a second arrow with lethal intent. These whistling arrows are made by inserting an arrowhead of bone in which hollow channels have been created. When shot, such arrowheads make a very audible sound through the air.
An inscription thought to be from 1226 was found on a stone stele in Nerchinsk, Siberia. It may have said: "While Chinggis Khan was holding an assembly of Mongolian dignitaries, after his conquest of Sartaul (Khwarezm), Esungge (son of Genghis Khan's younger brother) shot a target at 335 alds (536 m or 586 yards)". [5]
The Mongolian draw, or thumb draw, uses only the thumb, the strongest single digit, to grasp the string. Around the back of the thumb, the index and/or middle fingers reinforce the grip. This is traditional across the Asian steppes, as well as in Korea, [6] Japan, Tibet, China, Turkey, India and recent Persia. [7] It was also used by Ishi, the last of the Yana, with his short bows.
It gives a narrower grip on the string, as only one digit is used, and this may help to avoid "string pinch" with shorter bows, such as the composite bows normally used from horseback. Mongol archers would wear a thumb ring made from leather, bone, horn, and in some cases silver to protect the thumb. [8] It may also avoid a problem occasionally faced by archers using the Mediterranean release, when the three fingers do not release at exactly the same time and thus foul the draw.
This release is normally used with the arrow on the right side of the bow for a right-handed archer who holds the bow in the left hand and draws with the right; a left-handed archer will usually reverse this arrangement.
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows. The word comes from the Latin arcus, meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern times, it is mainly a competitive sport and recreational activity. A person who practices archery is typically called an archer, bowman, or toxophilite.
An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers called fletchings mounted near the rear, and a slot at the rear end called a nock for engaging the bowstring. A container or bag carrying additional arrows for convenient reloading is called a quiver.
In modern archery, a compound bow is a bow that uses a levering system, usually of cables and pulleys, to bend the limbs. The compound bow was first developed in 1966 by Holless Wilbur Allen in North Kansas City, Missouri, and a US patent was granted in 1969. Compound bows are widely used in target practice and hunting.
The bow and arrow is a ranged weapon system consisting of an elastic launching device (bow) and long-shafted projectiles (arrows). Humans used bows and arrows for hunting and aggression long before recorded history, and the practice was common to many prehistoric cultures. They were important weapons of war from ancient history until the early modern period, where they were rendered increasingly obsolete by the development of the more powerful and accurate firearms. Today, bows and arrows are mostly used for hunting and sports.
In archery, the shape of the bow is usually taken to be the view from the side. It is the product of the complex relationship of material stresses, designed by a bowyer. This shape, viewing the limbs, is designed to take into account the construction materials, the performance required, and the intended use of the bow.
Naadam is a traditional festival celebrated in Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and Tuva. The festival is also locally termed "eriin gurvan naadam", "the three games of men".
A composite bow is a traditional bow made from horn, wood, and sinew laminated together, a form of laminated bow. The horn is on the belly, facing the archer, and sinew on the outer side of a wooden core. When the bow is drawn, the sinew and horn store more energy than wood for the same length of bow. The strength can be made similar to that of all-wood "self" bows, with similar draw-length and therefore a similar amount of energy delivered to the arrow from a much shorter bow. However, making a composite bow requires more varieties of material than a self bow, its construction takes much more time, and the finished bow is more sensitive to moisture.
Mongolian wrestling, known as Bökh, is the folk wrestling style of Mongols in Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and other regions where touching the ground with anything other than a foot loses the match. Bökh means "firmness, reliability, vitality, wrestler", from Mongolic root *bekü "firm, hard, solid; fighter, strong man" possibly from Turkic *böke "warrior" < "big snake". Wrestling is the most important of the Mongolian culture's historic "Three Manly Skills", that also include horsemanship and archery. Genghis Khan considered wrestling to be an important way to keep his army in good physical shape and combat ready. The court of the Qing dynasty (1646–1911) held regular wrestling events, mainly between ethnic Manchu and Mongol wrestlers. There are several different versions, Mongolian, Buryatian, Oirat and Inner Mongolian.
The Korean Bow is a water buffalo horn-based composite reflex bow, standardized centuries ago from a variety of similar weapons in earlier use. Due to its long use by Koreans, it is also known as Guk Gung. The Korean bow utilizes a thumb draw and therefore employing the use of a thumb ring is quite common. The Korean thumb ring is somewhat different from the Manchu, Mongol, or the Turkic Thumb Ring, as it comes in two styles, male and female. Male thumb rings are shaped with a small protrusion that sticks out that the bowstring hooks behind, while the female thumb ring simply covers the front joint of the thumb as protection from getting blisters.
During the Mongol invasions and conquests, which began under Genghis Khan in 1206–1207, the Mongol army conquered nearly all of continental Asia, including parts of the Middle East, and parts of Eastern Europe. The efforts of Mongol troops and their allies enabled the Mongol Empire to become the contemporarily largest polity in human history. Today, the former Mongol Empire remains the world's largest polity to have ever existed in terms of contiguous land area and the second-largest polity overall, behind only the British Empire.
A thumb ring is a ring meant to be worn on one's thumb. Most commonly, thumb rings are used as an archery equipment designed to protect the thumb pulp from the bowstring during a thumb draw, and are made of leather, stone, horn, wood, bone, antler, ivory, metal, ceramics, plastic or glass. It usually fits over the distal phalanx of the thumb, coming to rest at the distal edge of the interphalangeal joint. Typically a flange extends from the ring to cover the thumb pulp, and may be supplemented by a leather extension.
Turkish archery is a tradition of archery which became highly developed in the Ottoman Empire, although its origins date back to the Eurasian Steppe in the second millennium BC.
The Mongolian horse is the native horse breed of Mongolia. The breed is purported to be largely unchanged since the time of Genghis Khan. Nomads living in the traditional Mongol fashion still hold more than 3 million animals, which outnumber the country's human population. In Mongolia, the horses live outdoors all year, dealing with temperatures from 30 °C (86 °F) in summer down to −40 °C (−40 °F) in winter, and they graze and search for food on their own. The mare's milk is processed into the national beverage airag. Some animals are slaughtered for meat. Other than that, they serve as riding and transport animals; they are used both for the daily work of the nomads and in horse racing.
Archery, or the use of bow and arrows, was probably developed in Africa by the later Middle Stone Age. It is documented as part of warfare and hunting from the classical period until the end of the 19th century, when it was made obsolete by the invention and spread of repeating firearms.
A bow draw in archery is the method or technique of pulling back the bowstring to store energy for the bow to shoot an arrow. The most common method in modern target archery is the Mediterranean draw, which has long been the usual method in European archery. Other methods include the pinch draw and the Mongolian or "thumb" draw. In traditional archery practice outside Western Europe the variations of the thumb draw are by far the most dominant draw types, with the Mediterranean draw restricted to the Olympic style of target archery.
This is a list of archery terms, including both the equipment and the practice. A brief description for each word or phrase is also included.
In archery, a recurve bow is one of the main shapes a bow can take, with limbs that curve away from the archer when unstrung. A recurve bow stores more energy and delivers energy more efficiently than the equivalent straight-limbed bow, giving a greater amount of energy and speed to the arrow. A recurve will permit a shorter bow than the simple straight limb bow for given arrow energy, and this form was often preferred by archers in environments where long weapons could be cumbersome, such as in brush and forest terrain, or while on horseback.
Mounted archery is a form of archery that involves shooting arrows while on horseback. A horse archer is a person who does mounted archery. Archery has occasionally been used from the backs of other riding animals. In large open areas, it was a highly successful technique for hunting, for protecting herds, and for war. It was a defining characteristic of the Eurasian nomads during antiquity and the medieval period, as well as the Iranian peoples such as the Alans, Sarmatians, Cimmerians, Scythians, Massagetae, Parthians, and Persians in Antiquity, and by the Hungarians, Mongols, Chinese, and Turkic peoples during the Middle Ages. The expansion of these cultures have had a great influence on other geographical regions including Eastern Europe, West Asia, and East Asia. In East Asia, horse archery came to be particularly honored in the samurai tradition of Japan, where horse archery is called Yabusame.
For millennia, Chinese archery has played a pivotal role in Chinese society. In particular, archery featured prominently in ancient Chinese culture and philosophy: archery was one of the Six Noble Arts of the Zhou dynasty ; archery skill was a virtue for Chinese emperors; Confucius himself was an archery teacher; and Lie Zi was an avid archer. Because the cultures associated with Chinese society spanned a wide geography and time range, the techniques and equipment associated with Chinese archery are diverse. The improvement of firearms and other circumstances of 20th century China led to the demise of archery as a military and ritual practice, and for much of the 20th century only one traditional bow and arrow workshop remained. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a revival in interest among craftsmen looking to construct bows and arrows, as well as a practice technique in the traditional Chinese style.
The Manchu bow is a type of composite reflex bow historically used in Manchuria, and subsequently spread to China, Mongolia, and Tibet during the Qing dynasty. It is similar in construction and likely shares roots with the medieval Mongol bow. It is characterized by very large siyahs, long draw length, prominent string bridges, and use with typically large and heavy arrows. Compared to bows used by other cultures, which fired lighter arrows over longer distances, the Manchu bow was useful for shorter distances and capable of penetrating armor. One observer of the Boxer Rebellion noted that bows of 150 pounds (68 kg) were not uncommon. When strung, the bows were around 196 centimetres (77 in) from tip to tip.
